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veeleen13 's review for:
Sharp Objects
by Gillian Flynn
Oh, Gillian Flynn.
I liked Gone Girl, despite the incredibly unlikeable characters. Because of this, I got a two more books from Gillian Flynn. Sharp Objects and Dark Places (which was so unbearable, I Schmooped the whole thing 90 pages in and gave up on finishing it).
Starting with the writing, I did not like the style Flynn used at all. Being her debut novel, it's forgivable that Flynn did not have perfectly executed writing. She was trying so hard to use the short-sentence style and it just did not work because a) it was distracting, and b) it didn't fit with the narration of the story. Now I can move past this, but it was noticeable.
Then, the story.
1. The main character is incredibly unlikable with no redeeming qualities, which makes her unrealistic. In fact, every character is pretty unlikeable save for her boss's wife and possibly her boss. I forget the names of these characters and I finished a week ago... so that says a lot. Camille (I had to Google that) is really sexist, which sucks because she's the main narrator. Camille also slept with a potential suspect who is half her age and barely legal? Okay...
2. Richard and Camille's romance was forced, weird, and distracting from what little plot this book had. I didn't root for them as a couple and I didn't like Richard from the beginning.
3. This book was so rushed! It took a long time to get to the actual investigating and once it did get there, Flynn rushed through and added an epilogue for each character. She didn't leave anything to the imagination.
4. I was really confused what the point of the self-harm was for. Why did Camille have this urgency to carve words into her skin, or write words on her arms, or repeat words over and over like the dude from The Shining? I get the self harm aspect was showing how her mother was abusive and it was a coping mechanism, sure, but it was never really explained what that added to the story, especially for how often the author mentions the words carved in Camille's skin.
Basically, I thought the writing was weak but not awful, the characters were flat and static and unlikable and I didn't care about any of them, some descriptions were unnecessary (i.e. the vomiting descriptions? Like, all seven of them?), the romance was forced, and the story itself was super rushed. I just hope the show does a better job of making this story shine a bit. The ending, though, was a surprise for me but I still had so many questions that seemed unexplained, even with the epilogue... probably because they felt unrealistic. The author has good ideas, but executes them badly.
I liked Gone Girl, despite the incredibly unlikeable characters. Because of this, I got a two more books from Gillian Flynn. Sharp Objects and Dark Places (which was so unbearable, I Schmooped the whole thing 90 pages in and gave up on finishing it).
Starting with the writing, I did not like the style Flynn used at all. Being her debut novel, it's forgivable that Flynn did not have perfectly executed writing. She was trying so hard to use the short-sentence style and it just did not work because a) it was distracting, and b) it didn't fit with the narration of the story. Now I can move past this, but it was noticeable.
Then, the story.
1. The main character is incredibly unlikable with no redeeming qualities, which makes her unrealistic. In fact, every character is pretty unlikeable save for her boss's wife and possibly her boss. I forget the names of these characters and I finished a week ago... so that says a lot. Camille (I had to Google that) is really sexist, which sucks because she's the main narrator. Camille also slept with a potential suspect who is half her age and barely legal? Okay...
2. Richard and Camille's romance was forced, weird, and distracting from what little plot this book had. I didn't root for them as a couple and I didn't like Richard from the beginning.
3. This book was so rushed! It took a long time to get to the actual investigating and once it did get there, Flynn rushed through and added an epilogue for each character. She didn't leave anything to the imagination.
4. I was really confused what the point of the self-harm was for. Why did Camille have this urgency to carve words into her skin, or write words on her arms, or repeat words over and over like the dude from The Shining? I get the self harm aspect was showing how her mother was abusive and it was a coping mechanism, sure, but it was never really explained what that added to the story, especially for how often the author mentions the words carved in Camille's skin.
Basically, I thought the writing was weak but not awful, the characters were flat and static and unlikable and I didn't care about any of them, some descriptions were unnecessary (i.e. the vomiting descriptions? Like, all seven of them?), the romance was forced, and the story itself was super rushed. I just hope the show does a better job of making this story shine a bit. The ending, though, was a surprise for me but I still had so many questions that seemed unexplained, even with the epilogue... probably because they felt unrealistic. The author has good ideas, but executes them badly.